Worth the Distance
by girlwiththeblackinkpen
Summary: "You're calves burn and your arms turn sore, but when you cross that finish line, it's all so worth it. So, so worth it."


**Worth the Distance**

**A/N: An A.U. one-shot… I'm bored, and I should really do my English homework.**

**Summary: **_"Your calves burn and your arms turn sore, but when you cross that finish line, it's all so worth it. So, so worth it."_

**Inspiration: Running the mile at my school, because that, in itself, is absolutely brutal. Oh, and cookies. Because cookies begin everything.**

**oOoOoOo**

_**"Your calves burn and your arms turn sore, but when you cross that finish line, it's all so worth it. So, so worth it."**_

**oOoOoOo**

Wally ran steadily on the rubber track, controlling his breathing and moving his arms in sync with his legs. He was covered with sweat, and his red hair clung to his forehead, matting them down and making him try in vain to shake them out of his eyes by flicking his neck. His quadriceps burned as his sneakers thudded on the track, and even though his lungs were absolutely _killing _him, he reminded himself that he only had half a lap left to go.

He spotted the painted white line, and he picked up the pace slightly, feeling more energized at the sight of the finish line, and he crossed the line with a flourish, his arms spread eagle.

"And the crowd goes wild!" he says, waving to the empty stands.

"Are you always running for imaginary crowds?" a snarky voice asked behind him.

He turned immediately, startled and embarrassed, and his face flushed.

It was girl, with long blonde hair tied into a prim and tight ponytail. She had sharp, arched eyebrows, plump pink lips, and startling gray eyes. She was smirking, her arms crossed over her tight, skinny frame.

Wally was blinked, "Who are you? You have to be a member of the track team to use this track."

The girl rolled her silver orbs, "I'm not here to train, Baywatch, I'm waiting for my sister."

Wally raised an eyebrow, "Whose your sister?"

The girl shrugged, "What's it to you?"

He also shrugged his shoulders, and he grabbed his towel off the bench by the track, draping it over his muscular shoulders and then unscrewing the water bottle that was also by it.

He guzzled it in his mouth, and then spat it out onto the turf that surrounded the track before answering the girl, "Just 'cause. I'm just wanna know, you know?"

The wrinkled her nose at the turf where Wally had just spit, and then turned back to him, frowning, "You probably don't know her. Jade Nguyen, she's on the junior varsity team, but she also plays soccer."

Wally raised an eyebrow, "How do _you _know I'm not on the junior varsity team?"

The girl smirked, "You're Wally West, the only freshmen that got onto the varsity team this year."

"How'd you know that? The coach wanted to keep that a secret, so that the scouts would focus more on the juniors and seniors on the team," Wally said, his eyes, narrowed.

The girl shrugged, "I've got friends in high places," she said loftily.

Wally smirked, "So what's your name?"

The girl shrugged, "You're gonna have to find that out for yourself."

She walked away, her long, blond ponytail swishing behind her and it left Wally wondering who the heck the girl could be.

**oOoOoOo**

_**"It probably helps that she's there, waiting for you, repressing a smile at your cockiness, and cheering you on as you finish. It doesn't matter if your first, or last, because she'll always be there, clapping for you, and it makes you want to run even faster. Even farther."**_

**oOoOoOo**

Her name's Artemis.

The name rolls off of Wally's tongue easily, and he likes to say sometimes in the dark of his bedroom when he can't sleep, because it just calms him down for some reason.

He spotted her in the hallway, and he asked his all-knowing friend, Dick Grayson, to dig up some dirt on her.

It didn't take long, Dick's girlfriend, Kori Anders, just happens to be a close friend of Artemis, and it only takes a couple lunch periods to know Artemis's life story.

He knows that her parents are divorced, and her father used to be abusive, meaning that she lives with her mother now. He also knows that due to a brain tumor, her mother's legs are non-responsive and she is confined to a wheel-chair.

He feels kinda bad for her, but he sees her smiling and laughing with Kori and a pretty girl named Megan in the hallways, and he dismisses it and thinks she's fine.

He doesn't see her that often, but he makes a point trying to. They both have totally different schedules, but one day, he catches her just before her lunch bell rings and his starts, and he invites her to come watch him at the next varsity track meet.

Artemis grins, and accepts.

Wally feels a leap of glee, and then scurries off to get in line for food.

At the track meet, he spots her in the stand, waving enthusiastically, and one of his team mates, Roy Harper, nudges him, wiggling his eyebrows. She's grinning, and then she sits down next to her friend Megan and begins chatting animatedly.

With her watching, Wally feels the sudden urge to impress, but to his utter disappointment, he finishes second. His heart feels heavy, and he doesn't want to see the disappointment on _her_ face, but when he turns to her, she's grinning, clapping and cheering and whistling all the same.

His heart feels light again, and he slings his arm around her shoulders, feeling sentimental, and he drives her home.

He gives her a kiss on the cheek before saying good night, and he dashes away, whooping and cheering silently when she doesn't deck him for doing it.

He feels great.

**oOoOoOo**

_**"That moment when she's not there crushes you a little, and you can't help but worry about where she is, what she's doing, because you distinctly remember you texting her that the correct time of the next meet, and your stomach starts fluttering because you actually don't remember and you want to check but you can't and you're already at the starting line. When you discover that she only had the stomach flu, you release the breath you hadn't realized you had been holding all stinkin' day, and then go visit her."**_

**oOoOoOo**

Wally scans the faces of the crowd methodically.

Again.

And again.

There is no sign of Artemis, and his stomach seems drop a little when the cold realization that _she's not there_, hits him.

He's itching to run to the locker rooms and call her, but his event's coming up and his coach will kill him if he leaves for a phone call. At least, unless it's life or death.

Another horrific though strikes his mind. What if Artemis had been kidnapped? Or murdered? Or both?

His heart starts racing and he hears it pound in his ears, and his fingers start to twitch. He spots the familiar face of Megan, who is clutching her boyfriend, Connor's hand as she waves to Wally, smiling apologetically.

_She_ seems to know what's going on.

Wally is about to go over to the stands and ask her where Artemis is, when the speakers announce that the next event is starting.

Grumbling, he walks toward the start line, and gets into the starting position.

Artemis is just… running late… he reassures himself, and he's so stuck in his own musings that he doesn't hear the starter pistol go off, until the rest of the runners had taken off.

His eyes go wide, and he takes off, and he hears the mutterings of confusion from the crowd.

As he pulls for the final curve, he finishes fifth, his first time not in the top three.

His coach pulls him aside and starts to yell at him, berate him, but he's too distracted thinking how Artemis wouldn't have _cared_ what place he got, she would smile and cheer and whoop all the same, and he almost sighs when his coach pulls the, "_I know you have the potential and you just aren't giving your best effort," _crud he and Artemis like to make fun of.

When the coach is finished, he zips off to the locker room and checks his phone.

He has exactly one new message:

From: Arty

Im sick w/ the flu… cant come 2day sorree!

He lets out a sigh of relief, and quickly changes at a speed that would've won him first place at the meet, and zips outta there, tying his laces on the way out.

He sprays some cologne on, and stops at an Albertsons to grab some cans of chicken soup to bring to Artemis's house, and then he starts walking to the apartment that Artemis and her mother share, since Jade had moved out in Artemis's sophomore year.

He stops at his house first, grabbing Artemis's favorite book, some Dan Brown novel that he had been saving for her birthday, but he supposes it will have to do for now, and he rushes to her house.

Wally arrives at her door panting, most of the cologne worn off from running, and he's greeted by a red-nosed and drowsy-looking Artemis that is clutching a blanket around her thin frame with one shaky, pale hand, the other down by her side as her shoulder leans against the door frame.

Wally takes in the pitiful sight, and he carries her back to her bed. Her mom gives a nod toward Wally, they've met before, and he's been in their apartment many times already, and he doesn't even need to ask where her bedroom is.

The smell of disinfectant is strong in her room, and Wally turns toward her worriedly, "Did you throw up?"

Artemis nodded weakly, her eyes closed as she leaned her head against her bedframe.

Wally nodded as well, and he got up, "I'll go heat up some soup, I'll be right back."

He comes back with a tray clasped in his hands, and he places a steady hand on her sweaty forehead, and gets a cool cloth from the bathroom and places it over her head.

He feeds her some soup, and grins, and then is about to start reading it to her when Artemis stops him.

"How'd your race go?"

Wally paused, "I came in fifth."

Artemis nodded, "Cool."

Wally let's out a sigh of relief, because, really, he'll always be afraid of disappointing her.

**oOoOoOo**

_**"When you finally realize you love her, because the day will sneak up on you, completely out of the blue, you'll need to tell her immediately."**_

**oOoOoOo**

"I love you," Wally says suddenly, as he's watching Artemis carefully copy Wally's notes in her own neat handwriting.

She pauses, looks at him, with her eyebrow raised, "You're senior in high school. You sure 'bout that?"

Wally nods defiantly, "I am absolutely, unequivocally, in love with you."

Artemis laughs, not an unkind laugh, but the, "ha-ha you're ridiculous laugh," and Wally feels a bit hurt, "Yeah right, Baywatch."

"Seriously! Don't deny you don't love me either!" Wally sing-songs.

Artemis grins, " 'Course I love you, but if you're going to propose, or whatever the heck this is, can you not do it at school, because you haven't even taken me on a _date_ yet."

Wally huffed, "Fine. Be the selfish little snarky blonde you are."

Artemis snorted, "Doesn't affect me, Wall-man!"

Later, when they're at Artemis's apartment in her room and they lay together on her bed, holding each other's hands tightly, Artemis whispers into Wally's ear that she loves him too.

**oOoOoOo**

_**"She'll leave you first, despite the fact that she's always been a fighter, and you'll feel empty when she does."**_

**oOoOoOo**

Wally gripped his daughter's hand tightly, tears welling in his eyes as he listened to Jade speak at the front of the chapel.

They had decided on cremating her, he didn't think he could handle seeing her face so cold, so lifeless.

He knew that it had been coming. She had been in so much pain over the last week, coughing and hacking and losing a lot of blood. That mischievous spark that had always been shining in your eyes is gone, and her hair had long ago been chopped off in favor of a shorter, more modern look.

Wally missed her, his heart feeling empty and he felt lifeless, like he no longer had a purpose.

He glanced to his daughter, who had inherited his scarlet hair, and looked right into her eyes.

When he looked into his daughter's gleaming, watery silver ones, it felt like he was looking at Artemis again.

He brought Paula into his arms, holding her tightly and stroking her red hair that matched his, and he didn't let go for the rest of the service.

**oOoOoOo**

_**"And at the end, at the final turn, it's worth the distance."**_

**oOoOoOo**

He's old now, with grey hair and misty eyes. He has wrinkles around his eyes and his hands are dotted with liver spots. His legs, which were once the pride of his existence, are skinny, and the skin droops 'round his knees and ankles. He is so tired, and Paula had long ago moved out to live with her husband, some upstart named Xavier that was the adopted kid of Megan and Connor.

Paula had called last night, she knows her father's time is coming, and Wally said his good-byes. He said his last farewell to his grandson too, a rebellious little boy named Lawrence who had somehow, in some good fortune in the Punnet Square, inherited Artemis's beautiful blond hair. He also had that little all-knowing smirk that Artemis had once had, and Wally enjoyed spending time with the boy who reminded him so much of her.

He drinks tea before going to bed that night, sipping it quietly, and then, he finally feels the… _finality_… of it, but he accepts it. Lord knows that he could use some rest.

Wally died peacefully in his sleep that night, and Paula had somehow known that when she opened the door to her father's home the next morning, he would be forever no longer be with the living.

**oOoOoOo**

Wally was young again. Artemis, her long blond hair framing her face, her grey eyes once again sparkling with mischief, was leaning over him, her pouty pink lips pulled into a broad smile.

"Took you long enough, Baywatch," Artemis says, poking him playfully.

It's beautiful here, and he sees Artemis's mother, now walking on her own two legs, waving at them.

He sees Joan and Jay, his self-declared grandparents who had passed on long, long ago, sitting underneath a tree, having a picnic, and his mother and father are sitting near them, talking and laughing.

It isn't long until more join them.

Paula, Xavier, Dick, Megan, Connor, Kori, and Lawrence all come eventually.

And he thinks to himself, if this was what he was running for, it was so, worth the distance.


End file.
